George Foreman

George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. He is the namesake of the George Foreman Grill.

After a troubled childhood, Foreman took up amateur boxing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned professional the next year, he won the undisputed world heavyweight title with a stunning second-round knockout of the then-undefeated Joe Frazier in 1973. He defended the belt twice before suffering his first professional loss to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974. Unable to secure another title opportunity, Foreman retired after a loss to Jimmy Young in 1977.

Following what he referred to as a born again experience, Foreman became an ordained Christian minister. Ten years later he announced a comeback, and in 1994, at age 45, won the unified WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight championship titles by knocking out 26-year-old Michael Moorer, earning Associated Press Athlete of the Year honors. He dropped the WBA belt rather than face his mandatory title defense soon after, and following a single successful title defense against Axel Schulz, Foreman relinquished his IBF title as well on June 28, 1995. At 46 years and 169 days old, he became the oldest world heavyweight champion in history, as well as the second-oldest boxer to win a world title in any weight class after Bernard Hopkins at light heavyweight. Foreman also holds the record for the longest interval between world title reigns, spanning more than 20 years. He retired in 1997 at the age of 48, with a final record of 76 wins (68 knockouts) and 5 losses.

Foreman is a member of both the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Foreman as the eighth-greatest heavyweight of all time. In 2002, he was named one of the 25 greatest fighters of the past 80 years by The Ring; the following year, the magazine ranked him as the ninth-greatest puncher of all time. He was a ringside analyst for HBO's boxing coverage for 12 years until 2004. Outside boxing, Foreman was a successful entrepreneur and known for his promotion of the George Foreman Grill, which had sold more than 100 million units worldwide by 2011. In 1999, he sold the commercial rights to the grill for $138 million.

George Edward Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas, on January 10, 1949, to Leroy Moorehead and Nancy Ree (Nelson). He grew up in the Fifth Ward community of Houston, Texas, with six siblings. He was raised by J.D. Foreman, whom his mother had married when George was a small child. By his own admission in his autobiography, George was a troubled youth. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 and spent time as a mugger. At age 16, Foreman had a change of heart and convinced his mother to sign him up for Job Corps after seeing an ad for the Corps on TV. As part of Job Corps, Foreman earned his GED and trained to become a carpenter and bricklayer. After moving to Pleasanton, California, with the help of a supervisor, he began to train. Foreman was interested in football and idolized Jim Brown, but gave it up for boxing.

Foreman won a gold medal in the boxing/heavyweight division at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. In the finals, Foreman defeated the Soviet Union's Jonas Čepulis; the referee stopped the fight in the second round. Čepulis' face was already bleeding in the first round from Foreman's punches, and had to take a standing eight count early in the second round. Čepulis, fighting out of Lithuania, was a 29-year-old veteran with a 12-year-long amateur career, having over 220 fights in his record, quite experienced, and 10 years older than Foreman.

Round of 16: defeated Lucjan Trela (Poland) on points, 4–1

Quarterfinal: defeated Ion Alexe (Romania) referee stopped contest, 3rd round

Semi-final: defeated Giorgio Bambini (Italy) by a second-round knockout

Final: defeated Jonas Čepulis (Soviet Union) referee stopped contest, second round

Foreman turned professional in 1969 with a three-round knockout of Donald Walheim in New York City. He had a total of 13 fights that year, winning all of them (11 by knockout).

In 1970, Foreman continued his march toward the undisputed heavyweight title, winning all 12 of his bouts (11 by knockout). Among the opponents he defeated were Gregorio Peralta, whom he decisioned at Madison Square Garden, although Peralta showed that Foreman was vulnerable to fast counter-punching mixed with an assertive boxing style. Foreman then defeated George Chuvalo by technical knockout (TKO) in three rounds. After this win, Foreman defeated Charlie Polite in four rounds and Boone Kirkman in three. Peralta and Chuvalo were Foreman's first world-level wins. Peralta was the number-10 ranked heavyweight in the world in January 1970 per The Ring, while Chuvalo was number seven in the world per their March 1971 issue.

In 1971, Foreman won seven more fights, winning all of them by knockout, including a rematch with Peralta, whom he defeated by knockout in the 10th and final round in Oakland, California, and a win over Leroy Caldwell, whom he knocked out in the second round. After amassing a record of 32–0 (29 KO), he was ranked as the number-one challenger by the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council.

In 1972, still undefeated and with an impressive knockout record, Foreman was set to challenge undefeated and undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier. Despite boycotting a title elimination tournament resulting from the championship being stripped from Muhammad Ali, Frazier had won the title from Jimmy Ellis and defended his title four times since, including a 15-round unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Ali in 1971 after Ali had beaten Oscar Bonavena and Jerry Quarry. Despite Foreman's superior size and reach, he was not expected to beat Frazier and was a 3:1 underdog going into the fight.

The Sunshine Showdown took place on January 22, 1973, in Kingston, Jamaica, with Foreman dominating the fight to win the championship by TKO. In ABC's rebroadcast, Howard Cosell made the memorable call, "Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!" Before the fight, Frazier was 29–0 (25 KO) and Foreman was 37–0 (34 KO). Frazier was knocked down six times by Foreman within two rounds (the three-knockdown rule was not in effect for this bout). After the second knockdown, Frazier's balance and mobility were impaired to the extent that he was unable to evade Foreman's combinations. Frazier managed to get to his feet for all six knockdowns, but referee Arthur Mercante eventually called an end to the one-sided bout.

Foreman announced an exhibition match in 1975, billed as Foreman vs Five, where he would fight five contenders in one night. Following his first loss to Muhammad Ali and a subsequent year-long hiatus, the event was meant to re-spark interest in Foreman and showcase his strength and ability to knock out opponents. The first criticisms came as the opponents Foreman was fighting were revealed to be journeymen with sub-par or inexperienced records. This energy transferred over to the night of the event as Foreman was met with boos from the crowd as well as antagonistic chants of "Ali! Ali! Ali" as he made his appearance and walked out to the ring. While in the ring, Foreman began to verbally spar with Ali, who was commentating ring-side with Howard Cosell. After knocking-out opponents, Foreman would walk over to his corner and begin to taunt Ali, to which Ali responded by yelling advice to Foreman's opponents mid-fight. Foreman was met with jeers all throughout the night as the crowd grew increasingly displeased at Foreman's defeats of his first three opponents, all by knockout. After the initial victories, Foreman, now completely enraged and exhausted, was unable to beat his last two opponents, who were met with cheers and applause for lasting against the former champion. The event was initially meant to bolster support for Foreman's comeback, though the public was now even more unsure of his abilities.

In his youth, Foreman grew up largely without religion in his life. His spiritual change and ministry have been well documented. After a boxing match with heavyweight Jimmy Young, Foreman was in the locker room and suddenly felt that he was dying. Wanting to survive, he prayerfully offered "to devote his boxing prize money to charity" when he heard a voice saying "I don't want your money...I want you." The New York Times reported:

Then a "giant hand" plucked him into consciousness. Foreman found himself on a locker room table, surrounded by friends and staff members. He felt as if he were physically filled with the presence of a dying Christ. He felt his forehead bleed, punctured by a crown of thorns; his wrists, he believed, had been pierced by nails of the cross. "I knew that Jesus Christ was coming alive in me," Foreman said. "I ran into the shower and turned on the water and—hallelujah!—I was born again. I kissed everybody in the dressing room and told them I loved them. That happened in March 1977, and I never have been the same again."

Foreman stated that in this crisis experience, he became a born-again Christian. Following this, HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant commented that "There was a transformation from a young, hard character who felt a heavyweight champion should carry himself with menace to a very affectionate personality." Foreman was welcomed by members of The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Holiness Pentecostal church on Lone Oak Road in Houston, where he eventually became the pastor in 1980. Under his leadership, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ opened the George Foreman Youth and Community Center to minister to children and adolescents in the area. Foreman declared that "I'm always studying the Bible" and stated that "The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know." Foreman led three church services a week, in which he aimed "to reveal something about the Bible that they [his congregation] didn't know". Foreman opined that "It doesn't matter what you achieve, what you accomplish in this life...The most important thing is to keep your eye on the true prize, and that's serving God."

In 2022, Foreman competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Venus Fly Trap". He was eliminated on "Hall of Fame Night" alongside George Clinton as "Gopher".

Foreman also served as an executive producer on Big George Foreman, a 2023 Christian film based on his sporting and spiritual life.

Foreman was married to Mary Joan Martelly from 1985 until his death. He had four previous marriages: to Adrienne Calhoun from 1971 to 1974, Cynthia Lewis from 1977 to 1979, Sharon Goodson from 1981 to 1982, and Andrea Skeete from 1982 to 1985.

Foreman had 12 children: five sons and seven daughters. His five sons are George Jr., George III ("Monk"), George IV ("Big Wheel"), George V ("Red"), and George VI ("Little Joey"). On his Web site, Foreman explained, "I named all my sons George Edward Foreman so they would always have something in common. I say to them, 'If one of us goes up, then we all go up together, and if one goes down, we all go down together!'" Like his father, George III has pursued a career in boxing and entrepreneurship. George IV appeared on the second season of the reality television series American Grit, where he placed seventh.